Sense of Home
by The head and the pen
Summary: Annabeth Chase’s life ended when her mom died. Now, she’s antisocial and depressed, forever searching how to open her heart again. Percy Jackson has everything going for him, but his repressed PTSD and lack of direction has left him with a hole in his heart. Can Annabeth and Percy heal the scars in their souls to find love, or will the pressure be too much to handle. *Percabeth


_A year from now we'll all be gone_

_All our friends will move away_

_And they're going to better places_

_But our friends will be gone away_

_Nothing is as it has been _

_And I miss your face like hell_

_And I guess it's just as well_

_But I miss your face like hell_

_-_Rivers and Roads, The Head and the Heart

**Prologue: Annabeth**

Although I attended Goode High School for the last three years, I had yet to make a strong connection with anything or anyone related to it. I waited for years to feel that feeling that all teenagers are supposed have in high school. You know, that "this is the greatest time of my life", Jack and Diane feeling. Unfortunately, at the start of my senior year, I hadn't come close- I wasn't even sure that I wanted to.

My lack of connection had nothing to do with the students at Goode, honestly, most of them were pretty nice. It had nothing to do with the faculty either, because they were excellent. In fact, I think that, looking back on those years of my life, it had everything to do with me. I wasn't mean, but I wasn't nice; I wasn't antisocial, but I wasn't social either. I had repressed depression and, according to my psychologist, a genius brain that overthunk every situation I encountered, good or bad.

I don't think that I even started living until I met Percy.

**Chapter One: In with the Old, Out with the New**

**Annabeth**

It was only the second week of school and already Annabeth was drowning in homework. Maybe, it was because she had a full schedule and three extracurricular classes, as well as her four other extracurriculars and part-time job...maybe. If Annabeth was anything she was prideful and there was no way in hell that she was dropping a single one of her classes. No way.

However, she_ was _going to need a bigger locker to fit her eight textbooks and four binders. _Maybe even two, _she thought while shoving her books into her locker for her lunch break. After she had successfully stuffed her locker to the brim (she'd worry about getting them out later), Annabeth headed to Mr. Brunner's classroom, where she always went to study if she wasn't in the library helping Mrs. Iris, the librarian.

Mr. Brunner and Annabeth went way back to when she was seven years old. He ran the summer camp that she went to as a kid, Camp Half-Blood (weird name). The camp had been her favourite place, a place that she could relax and escape from her messed up home to. Mr. Brunner made her feel safe and was almost like Annabeth's second dad, even better than her biological one in her opinion.

When she got to room 305, Annabeth knocked half-heartedly on the door and then opened it without waiting for a response.

"Hi Chiron!" She said cheerily, choosing a desk near the front of the classroom, so that she could talk to him easier.

Chiron looked up from his desk and smiled at her, "Hello Annabeth, how are you?"

"Pretty good. I have a mountain of homework that I have to finish today at lunch, because I'm working after school."

Chiron sighed and shook his head. The girl worked herself to the bone!

"You'd better get to it then, so I'll leave you alone. I have to go get some assignments printed." He said, and gathered up his things, wheeling over to the door.

He had been paralyzed from the waist down because of an "injury acquired in battle" (whatever that meant), so he used a wheelchair. He was only forty and had never been in the military as far as Annabeth knew.

Annabeth laid out her homework: four math pages (trig, calculus, engineering and architecture), history questions, blueprints for her architecture class and two essays (one in French and the other in English). Unlike most other high school students, Annabeth loved school-at least, the academic part. Daughter of Athena Minerva, architecture genius, and Frederick Chase, American History professor at Stanford, Annabeth had inherited her parents smart genes... and then some. However, no amount of intelligence could make something as binine as _homework _interesting.

So, like every other student in the world, Annabeth moaned and groaned about the "injustice" of homework and how it was "a complete waste of time" (who needs to know who the shortest U.S. president was_ anyway?)_, all while doing it.

At 12:45, Annabeth was interrupted from her history questions (she had finished the math), to the door opening. She looked up to see Percy Jackson. Popular was an understatement for him. He wasn't just _popular_ he was practically a celebrity, seeing as he was known amongst all New Yorkers who gave even an inkling about sports. He was excellent at football, basketball and absolutely magnificent at swimming. Not to mention, he was extremely attractive, though Annabeth wasn't going to admit it.

Right now, Mr. Hot Swimmer Bad Boy Percy Jackson was in the same room as Ms. Nerdy Invisible Annabeth Chase, and it was throwing her off. One important thing to know about Annabeth is that she doesn't do well with not knowing, and she didn't know what to do around people her age, especially guys, especially if said "guy" is Percy Jackson.

Percy was just standing, kind of awkwardly, at the footing, with his hand hovering above the doorknob, like he was ready to leave at any second. Annabeth decided that the best thing for herself would be to ignore him and hope that he went away. He didn't. Actually, he did the opposite by stepping into the room, clearing his throat and sitting next to her.

"Do you know where Chiron is?" He asked her, which annoyed her to no end. Not the asking part, no, the _Chiron _part.

Until this point, Annabeth had been under the impression that she was the only student who Mr. Brunner knew well and considered a favourite. Obviously, she wasn't if Percy was on just as comfortable terms with him. It was depressing to admit, but Annabeth wasn't anyone's favourite anything. Chiron was the only person in her life that really cared for her, but how could she be important to him when competing against _the _Percy Jackson? Simple, she couldn't.

And it hurt, so she ignored Percy's question. She ignored his presence altogether.

Percy didn't seem ready to give up though, because he began guessing where Mr. Brunner could be.

"The library?" He guessed. Annabeth didn't answer.

"The cafeteria. Hmm, no teacher would step foot in there. Maybe the staff lounge? I thought he hated the smell. Well, he could be in Paul's class, they're friends. You know what, I'll just shoot him a text. I really need to talk to him before school ends." He continued talking to himself incessantly, distracting Annabeth from her homework.

"He's in the printing room." She muttered/growled at him after ten minutes of hearing his useless babbling.

Percy jumped in his seat a little, like he'd forgotten that she was there, which honestly happened a lot with her.

"Oh uh...thanks." He said unsurely, tapping a random pen against the table that had "Anaklusmos" written in it.

Annabeth, who had studied Greek two years earlier, translated the word to "riptide", which kind of suited Percy and the pen perfectly. She liked the pen so much that she said it, out loud.

"What?" He replied, confused, so Annabeth decided that instead of making herself look like an even bigger idiot, she would just go with her mistake.

"I really like your pen. Riptide? That's a cool inscription." Percy looked at her, like he was impressed, or at least she hoped that was what that expression was. She kind of felt proud of herself for some weird reason.

"Xérete pós na milísete sta eliniká?" _You know how to speak in Greek? _He questioned in perfect Greek, with a curious expression.

His eyes were sparkling, Annabeth noticed. She also noticed his small grin and the dimple in his left cheek. She decided to ignore the slightly breathless feeling that she got when he spoke in, what seemed to be, his second language.

"Lígo." Annabeth answered cautiously, suddenly aware of her unimpressive accent.

Although, she was good at languages, Annabeth had only studied Greek for about three months, so she was far from fluent. This fact didn't seem to matter to Percy though, because he smiled bigger (the dimple in his right cheek appeared) and leaned closer to Annabeth, like they were having an important conversation.

"What are you working on?" Percy asked, scanning her pile of papers and books that were dominating the table.

Annabeth didn't respond. She was too caught up in how he smelled like beach water and wow, his eyes were really beautiful, like a swirling ocean with specks of gold. _Was it gold or brown?_ She also noticed the faint stubble growing on his face, not in a prepubescent way, more like he was going to have a five o'clock shadow later on in the day.

Percy's throat clearing snapped her out of her trance. _That's embarrassing_, Annabeth thought uneasily, looking down at her papers to avoid eye contact.

"This," she said, gesturing to her desk, "is my homework."

Percy's face was absolutely comical. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped; he scooted away from her, as if to get away from the homework, like it would attack him or something. Annabeth let out a small laugh when she saw how scared he looked at the mere idea of homework.

"How many classes are you in?" Percy sort of asked, sort of yelled. Annabeth shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal, even though it kind of was. She was the smartest student in the grade and managed to be valedictorian, even with her heavy workload.

"Like 10." She replied nonchalantly, returning to her books. She heard Percy choke on the gun that he was chewing.

"10! I can barely handle my three." _Figures, _Annabeth thought snarkily, but immediately felt bad, even if she had only insulted him in her head.

It actually wasn't normal to load your schedule during senior year. Most students would do that as a junior, so that they could relax before graduating. Annabeth just liked to learn and- although she didn't like to admit it- she didn't have much else to do. No friends, no family; nothing except for her job as an intern at an architecture firm and volunteering at the hospital every Saturday. Yes, those two last things were very impressive, but all Annabeth really wanted was to be and feel like a real teenager. Like Percy.

Suddenly, she didn't feel like talking anymore, especially to Percy- who was exactly what she wasn't: funny, social and well-liked by all. She began to shut her mind off to everything that surrounded her, focusing only on one thing, her homework. This was something that her mom had taught her to do, one of the only things that her mom had actually helped her with.

_**What caused the American Revolution?** _

_Imposed taxes, distrust of aristocracy and the response to the Boston Tea Party._

**_Who was the president during the "era of good feelings"?_**

_President James Munroe._

**_What was the invention that made cotton America's most lucrative industry?_**

_The cotto-_

"Are you okay?" Percy's worried voice cut through Annabeth's frantic studying. When she looked at him, his face showed genuine concern, which confused her. She must have creeped him out or something.

"Sorry." She muttered, before returning to her work.

This time he got the hint, because he gathered his things and left the classroom swiftly after her obvious dismissal.

The second that the classroom door closed, Annabeth let out a huge breath that she didn't know that she had been holding. She had probably talked to Percy more in those short 20 minutes than anyone else in the school (excluding Chiron and faculty) during the past four years. It was a weird, but she almost felt proud of herself. Talking to him wasn't so bad (well...maybe it was) and for moments there she had almost enjoyed herself.

Then, she remembered how anxious she had gotten when she compared herself to him, and how towards the end of their conversation, she really wanted to be anywhere else.

She wasn't ready to meet new people and she never would be, but maybe, just maybe, she could try?

_**Author's Note:**_

_Hi guys, thanks for reading the beginning of my brainchild! I've been in love with writing for years and for some reason, the Percy Jackson characters inspire me, so I decided to write about them. This is my first fanfiction, so I would really appreciate any constructive criticism to improve. _

_Also, I have an idea of what I want this story to be in the future, but nothing is written in stone, so feel free to tell me what you would like to see from this story._

_If you've read this far, thank you! What's your favourite fanfiction?_

_-The Head and the Pen _


End file.
